After twenty-five years of "sex, drugs, bad behaviour, and haute cuisine," chef and novelist Anthony Bourdain decided to tell all. From his first oyster in the Gironde to his lowly position as a dishwasher in a honky tonk fish restaurant in Provincetown; from the kitchen of the Rainbow Room atop the Rockefeller Center to drug dealers in the East Village, from Tokyo to Paris and back to New York again, Bourdain's tales of the kitchen are as passionate as they are unpredictable, as shocking as they are funny.posted by DirtyOldTown (7 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite

This is every bit as rollicking and fun and fascinating and hilarious and well-observed and passionate as I'd ever heard. After the sad news of this week, I've been giving the audiobook a spin and have found myself smiling nearly constantly while it is on, despite everything.posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:15 AM on June 12, 2018

Now I really want to read Medium Raw, his followup, to see how this cocky persona fared against age and wisdom.posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:50 AM on June 12, 2018

Just a few chapters in and it's a fun read. Slowed a bit when he gets didactic about cooking, totally right on but was looking for drugged out adventures not a cookbook, although remembering need to pick up shallots, tl;dr you need a chefs knife, couple heavy pots, butter, salt garlic and fresh herbs and did I mention butter, but that's all that's necessary. Oh and throw out the garlic press, slice thin.posted by sammyo at 9:23 AM on June 12, 2018

I also just started this one yesterday evening and noticed it's so easy to hear it in his voice.posted by Burhanistan at 9:28 AM on June 12, 2018

Medium Raw is good--you can see his maturing and explicitly reflecting back on his earlier writing and his didacticism, starting to look back on the macho image and question it. It's something he held on to in smalller and smaller parts even after--if not explicit machismo, then at least a reflexive contrarianism and an impulse to be rude to what he saw as establishment.

I most remember his reflections on New Orleans, and his criticism of Alan Richman's deep, snide ignorance when the latter visited post-Katrina, which were really something special.posted by pykrete jungle at 5:49 PM on June 12, 2018 [4 favorites]

Oh, this looks interesting! I'll be sure to put this on my list for later.

Mainly commenting because I did want to add that the sidebar Amazon link goes to the 2000 copy, which is paperback only and thus near scared me off due to physical location issues; so here's an updated edition that has more formats available, including a Kindle version.posted by lesser weasel at 7:42 PM on June 18, 2018

@sammyo You will want A Cook's Tour for that (was also available on audio CD at one point).posted by koucha at 12:55 PM on June 22, 2018